i am starting a thread in the hope that this will be a living guidebook for best restaurants in HK

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Preface:
Do not worry about the language. Be aventurous. i myself had been able to order food by looking at neighboring table in portugal, italy, thailand and korea.

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i would have a lot more to recommend, but some places are hard to find. i don't think it worth spending some 30-60 minute just to find a particular restaurant if you are a tourist. so have the hotel call them up and mark them on your map, and visit them if you pass by


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CHINESE FOOD

for dim sum, Maxim (any maxim, they are good quality and clean. though the one at city hall is the easiest to find)
for other chinese cuisine (peking, chiuchow/tseochiu, hunan, shanghai /etc) try the maxim group as well.

http://www.maxims.com.hk/html/opening.htm

check this out, and have the hotel call them up for reservation/directions.
when you are in one maxim. ask for pamphlet about their sister restaurants in other cuisines.
(sorry this page is in chinese. i can't find the english page)

Hunan Garden at Exchange Square is really good.
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REAL HONKIE

to experience real cantonese food
1. drop by local "chya-restaurant" for the genuine honkie fast food, e.g. "new chiu kee", they are ubiquitous.
2. try those street food
3. "snake king two" on perceival street for snake soup, and liver sausage. HKD65 for set dinner.
4. "HK-style steak". Boston Restaurant at Luard Road, and Tai Ping Koon in Causeway Bay. they serve soya sauce flavored steaks and other HK adapted western cuisines. (a failed attempt of cantonese making western food, but instead developed a cuisine of their own)

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FORIEGN FOOD

there are good SE Asia, Japanese, Korean and European food, but you can try them elsewhere. so the below is for those who are tired of chinese food everyday. and for those who are staying here long.

IMHO, although these foreign food are in general pretty good. but not many are that genuine. if you are tired of chinese food (you maybe, because it is just different from the diet you are used to) try these:

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BEST CONTINENTAL
there are many european restaurants, they are mostly decent, but you dont have to come to HK for that. only French food i would recommend is Amigo at Happy Valley (expensive for dinner, set at HKD 550-650, but they offer lunch set at HKD180)

BEST JAPANESE
The genuine Japanese food (the only one i would recommend) is called Irori, at Henessy road, Causeway Bay. VERY HARD to locate, 4/f up a building called "Wing Kong", oppoposite to Mitsukishi. Fresh seafood arrives every night from Japan by air.
The other good Jap restaurant is called Utsuki, in a small street behind Mitsukoshi, near Tai Ping Koon
(still, please go to tokyo for japanese food, not HK)

OTHER SE ASIAN
(i have yet to find the best vietnamese, thai, malaysian, burmese, indonesian food. there are a few, they are not bad. but it is like the situation for vietnamese food below)
No really good vietnamese that i know, Saigon is decent, but it is too "westernized". it is real pity, since it is not so easy to go to Vietnam. (i think the best Viet food outside Vietnam is probably in Paris)
the best one used to a shabby restaurant, at the intersection of Lockhard and Canal Roads, but they had to adjust to Cantonese taste, and sort of lost the real Vietnamese flavor -- still the most genuine one though, very cheap also.
Little Paris under the bridge at the North end of Canal road (west side of the flyover) is quite good, very cheap! but not good enough for the effort to search for it.

BEST KOREAN
The best Korean food is call Gaya, opposite to Times Square at Causeway Bay, in a new building up 4/F (or 6/F) on Russel Street.
Forget Sorabel, i think it is overrated and overpriced. A real Korean restaurant should use silver chopsticks and spoon. Gaya does.
(this is at the similar price range as Sorabel)



[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 01-25-2003).]

I like to recommend two chinese places I visited in Dec.

1. WANG JIA SHA - located at Shop2, 3/F, Whampoa Plaza, Site 8, Hung Hom .
Tel 2365-0669. This is a shanghaiese food rest. and if you like shanghai dim-sum, def. worth a visit. From TST, the easiest way will be take a taxi and the fare is about $18.

2. Water Margin - located on 12/F, Food Forum at Times Square, Causeway Bay.
Tel 3102-0088. The chinese food is bit unusual, but we really like the atmosphere and the setting there.

for updated guide click

here (http://cxrocks.suddenlaunch3.com/index.cgi?board=hk&action=display&num=1108595155)

Well, I have to disagree with some of the "suggested" restaurant on the list. I just want to say that the list maynot be the most comprehensive/ up-to-date to standard of restaurant.

Example:
Boston Restaurant: The most horrible restaurant I have ever been to. There are lots of far better choices of HK style Steak. Czarina is a good example.

Amigo: This famed restaurant is no longer in its prime. It is just an over-charging establishment in my opinion. Also, the set-lunch is a known fact of horrible quality of food.

Of course, there are VERY good suggestions as well, like Fook Lam Moon and Liu Yuan.

yes, a meal in boston restaurant costs less than HK$100. it is not comparable to the high end ones. but it is the types of cooking you can only find in HK.
(maybe i should just say worth 'experience'/try, instead of grouping it under the 'best' title)

but i still think amigo is very good. though many people like vongs.
i think they are both better than petrus.
i found shangi-la the best as a hotel, but i never really like any of their restaunrants, across the whole chain. shang palace is over-rated in every one of their properties (though less so in the hotels in HK)